This makes me happy. Seemed for awhile there like he didn't really want anything to do with the Flames franchise anymore, good to see he will retire here where he belongs. Wish we could have got over that hump and won a cup with him here but he still had an all star career. Welcome home Iggy!
"Trevor Linden,'' begins now Flames assistant coach Martin Gelinas, mentally scrolling down the list. "Mark Messier. Ron Francis. (Rod) Brind'Amour. I was lucky. I played with so many good players. Great players.
"And he's right there, at the very top."
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"He could play the game any way you wanted,'' lauds the Flames assistant GM. "When it got hard, he got better. That really seemed to take his game up a level or two.
"When he got mad … hoo boy. Look out."
Quote:
"If he asked me to do something, I did it. Because I trusted him. Because I just think he's awesome. Because he's Jarome Iginla."
This Saddledome send-off, chimes in Conroy, is perfect.
"For sure, it's the right thing, the right way. He's a Calgary Flame. I know he played for a few other teams at the end of his career.
"But he's a Calgary Flame. Simple as that.
"Always will be."
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With Conroy in the organization, I can't imagine he won't be in King's ear about an actual jersey retirement for Iginla. They have to do this right. They will do this right, and it will be a damn special night.
Iginla and Kipper were the soul reasons why I ever got into hockey in the first place.
I accidentally wandered into the Flames community arenas after morning practice one day as an 8 year old. Iggy was doing laps and working on taking one timers from the left side circle. I watched mesmerized for about 10 minutes before he skated over to the bench, grabbed a sharpie from his bag, signed one of the pucks, and tossed it over the glass to me. I almost missed the bus waiting for him outside the locker rooms, honestly not wanting anything, but he offered to sign my ball cap and I didn't say no.
Easily my favourite player, favourite Flame and will always appreciate his gracious and genuine attitude to the city and his fans.
#Retire12
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It's a damn shame those stupid lockouts of '04-05 and 2012-13 played a role in deciding what his final numbers might have been. He likely would have ended up with 700+ goals and 1450+ points. The 2012 lockout also broke his streak of consecutive 30 goal seasons at 11.
As much as I enjoyed his 50 goals seasons, I consider his 2006-07 season to be his finest. He was playing at a 1.34 ppg pace, which would have extrapolated to 46 goal/110 point season. He was the Hart favourite up at the 1/2 way mark of the season, until he got injured (one of very few injuries of his playing career on an awkward hit) which took him out of the running. He was an absolute monster that season. Unstoppable going up against the best in the league night in and night out. Peak Iginla was unstoppable.
I'll never forget during that season, an interview after a BoA game when they interviewed Craig Mactavish and he said the Oilers lost because they deviated from their game plan of leaving Iginla alone. Instead, they decided to 'poke the bear' and Iggy manhandled them all night long.
I don't know if Iggy was ever the clear cut best player in the world during his career. But the fact he was even in the conversation was good enough for me to cement his as one of the best ever.
- Art Ross Trophy
- Rocket Richard Trophy (x2)
- King Clancy Trophy
- Ted Lindsay Award
- NHL All Rookie Team
- 1st Team Allstar (x3)
- 2nd Team Allstar
- 6 Allstar game appearances
- Top 3 in goals per season (x4), leading the league twice
- Top 8 in points per season (x4), leading once
- 3 time Hart nominee
- 2004 Playoff goal scoring leader
- Olympic gold medal winner (x2)
- World Cup of Hockey winner
I'm probably missing some other accolades. The Flames were incredibly lucky to have a franchise player like him for 16 seasons. I consider the biggest failure during his tenure with the Flames was the failure to surround him with an appropriate supporting cast to make another long playoff run. When Iggy got traded, we all knew it was time to move on. But it shouldn't have even come to that point. The Flames should have been able to keep in his entire career while still remaining competitive during his time.
A damn shame he couldn't bring a Cup to Calgary, although he came as close as you possibly can get.
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With Conroy in the organization, I can't imagine he won't be in King's ear about an actual jersey retirement for Iginla. They have to do this right. They will do this right, and it will be a damn special night.
With Conroy around, if King doesnt approve it they'll do it behind his back.
Conroy: "If you dont like it then take it down. I dare you."
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If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
They need to bring this t-shirt back as official merch leading up to the event. They would sell like crazy.
I still have two I wear all the time.
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Jarome Iginla was not only the best player we ever had in Calgary, but was such a class act, that he inadvertently converted the Calgary Flames from just another NHL team, into a place players wanted to play, and a second favourite team to many fans of other teams.
My money is on the Flames doing this properly and retiring his number, as well as HHOF the first year he's eligible. An amazing ambassador for hockey, and one of the classiest men to ever play the game.
Enjoy your retirement, Mr. Iginla, and thank you for doing it at the Dome.
Knew this was coming, but still sad to see it be a reality. I am happy he's deciding to come back to Calgary for the retirement though. Really, he is and always will be a Calgary Flame.
Now the Flames better not eff this up with their Forever a Flame BS.
Let's not forget that he missed a season and a half in his prime because of stupid lockouts. His numbers could have been even better! Love you Jarome. I named my son's middle name Jarome and I contacted the Flames just to let them know this and they asked Jarome to sign a picture. Of course he did, he wrote Congrats to me and my wife and Welcome to my son and then autographed it! What an amazing person!
Go Iginla Go!!!!!!!!!!!!
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